IP: 90.255.113.57
Posted on January 29, 2017 at 04:09:48 AM by Aspelta
In the past, we've run create-a-monster, create-a-shamanimal and create-a-plant contests/events for players to add to Shaman's worldbuilding.
Now, we have a new one: create-a-myth!
Shaman's deities were designed to be like the deities of ancient polytheistic religions (in terms of their interactions with mortals, interactions with each other, constant in-fighting, conflicting/overlapping 'domains', sense of humanity/flaws, etc). Like all ancient polytheistic religions there will be mythological stories told about them, Merl and I just never penned any. We're now inviting you to write some.
Deadline: Feb 28th at midnight GMT.
Guidelines:
- All work should be original (i.e. your own), but feel free to take inspiration from existing myths.
- Collaboration with other players is 100% okay and would frankly be awesome.
- Can be as long or as short as you want.
- You can use the deities as much or as little as you want to. If you'd prefer to create other protagonists/antagonists (mortal heroes, Immortal Ones, Ancient Creatures etc) then feel free. However, please don't create your own original fairies for this (non-original fairies who have been deified are a-okay tho!)
- You can submit as many as you want.
- Post your myths or links to GDocs/etc under this thread.
- Getting the deities' personalities "right" literally doesn't matter. Remember that these myths would have been written by mortals, many of whom would never even have met the deities, so it actually makes more sense if the personalities are a bit off or exaggerated.
Rewards:
- All entries will receive a prize of some description. This is currently not set because they may vary, for example if one person writes a 300 word mini-story and another person writes a 20k novella.
- If you have a particular prize you want, say so in your reply to this post and we'll try to accommodate.
- The best stories will go up permanently on the site under 'Deity Culture'.
- There will be an extra prize for the best story.
Assistance:
- This page contains basic info about religion & culture as well as little bios on each of the deities.
- This page expands more on deity culture and includes a list of domains for each deity.
- This page expands more on how the deities are seen on contemporary Earth.
- The FAQ contains information about what type of people each deity favours.
- A short bit of writing I did with deceased deity Kiya (goddess of the sun, patron goddess of Egypt).
Deity personalities have changed over time so depending on when your myth was first written, the deities don't have to act exactly as they do now. A few important notes on deities you won't find in the above links:
- The deities developed their abilities with divinity at different rates and had varying control over different powers at different times of their lives. General rule: if a deity is associated with a particular power (e.g. Allianah - fire manip, Mallos - psychic powers, Tsi - sleep manip), then that's a power they have a particular talent for and/or developed earlier in life. Aura and Khasekhemwy are both widely gifted with magic.
- Most of the deities' flaws and character defects have become more exaggerated with age. Modern-day Lorraine is totally germophobic but younger Lorraine just had a little thing about dirt. Modern-day Allianah is a radical feminist but younger Allianah was more tolerant of men and actually dreamed of romance.
- Tsi, Rhaegar and Gwythr have undergone the biggest personality changes of the living deities.
--- Tsi currently appears in plots as a protagonist or anti-hero, usually portrayed in a positive light, always trying to be kind and helpful. Young Tsi was an antagonist who bullied others as a child and became a patron god of piracy for a while. He cast off his negativity in the form of his familiar some time ago.
--- Rhaegar currently appears in a more antagonistic role but was much more heroic when he was younger. He founded the Alliance and worked to protect the Council. He also tended to act more in a guardian role and helped poorer people.
--- Gwythr is currently the biggest villain of all the deities and his ideology of a deity "Master Race", and how to go about getting it, is based on Nazi ideology. Gwythr's descent into villainy has occurred over the last thousand years or so; prior to that he was more of a good guy.
- The Council of Originals was only established in about 1350 BC, around the time of the Amarna Period of Ancient Egypt.
- All of the deities originated from Africa but not all from the same place within Africa.
- It is more difficult for the original fairies to have familiars than normal fairies because their souls aren't naturally split. Lorraine was the first deity to create a familiar and it went a bit wrong, hence why hers is a bit special.
Deceased deities of note:
- Aura, of whom there is plenty of documented info in the links above.
- Kiya, goddess of the sun and patron deity of Egypt. She was very kind, empathic, very likeable. She was also adventurous and very ADHD. Best friends with Allianah. Mallos and Rhaegar both fancied her.
- Thoth, the first deity to die, way back in ancient times (pre-dynastic/early dynastic period of Ancient Egypt). Often referred to as the "glue" who kept the originals together in the early days. Very kind, empathic, usually served as a mediator between the other deities, helped them understand each other better. His death was a huge blow to them.
- Caspian, 2nd most recent deity to die (after Aura), very kind and loving. Very close with Aura, Mallos and Thoth.
- Kahl, 3rd most recent deity to die (after Caspian and Aura), personality sits more in line with some of the more antagonistic deities still alive. Used to get involved with arguments with the others quite a bit. Died in WW1.
- Akemi, killed in 300AD. She was a very spiritual person, believing in universal balance. She favoured the spiritual over the physical. She was particularly skilled at astral projection, and was a renowned airbender. She favoured defensive magic and fighting techniques. Akemi was very proud and was largely solitary. At times she acted as a mentor to Rhaegar, trying to help him find peace and control.
If you want any more specific info on any of the deities please poke Merlin (Rhaegar, Akemi), Chia (Caspian), Quil (Xephyr) or me (the rest).
Other points worth noting about non-original characters:
- Ancient Creatures are incredibly diverse. Some, like the spirits, have no apparent consciousness or humanity. Others, like Omni, appear as people. Some are helpful, some are antagonistic. None are understood by fairies. The only general rule which can be applied to them is that they are largely sympathetic to mortals and largely antagonistic to deities. They generally seem to enjoy "evening out the status quo" a little and usually appear to restrict the power of the deities to mortals' benefit. They are responsible for the creation of coins, emerald leaves and deity prayer magic.
- For most of history there have been no demigods, although there have been many who claimed to be demigods.
- Estefania (the "seba child" - a manufactured "original" fairy) and Poppy (first demigod) are both very old, but also both well-kept secrets, so neither are likely to appear in old mythology. Estefania is still a secret.
- Information on Immortal Ones and other "types" of fairy can be found here.
Have fun :3
Replies:
- Curse of Fear - By SongDragon February 28, 2017 at 08:47:02 PM
- <33 - By Aspelta March 10, 2017 at 07:28:00 PM
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